Our manifest destiny [is] to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.
--John L. O’Sullivan, 1845
Manifest Destiny & Its Legacy, 1841-1848
DEMOCRATS Position on Issues:
Favored local rule, limited government, free trade, equal opportunity for white males
Opposed monopolies, a national bank, high tariffs, high land prices
Base of voter support:
Southerners, westerners, small farmers, urban workers
The Two Party System—The Democrats
WHIGS Positions on Issues:
Favored Clay’s American System
Opposed immorality, vice and crime, which some blame on immigrants
Base of Voter Support: New Englanders and residents of mid-Atlantic and upper-Middle-Western states; Protestants of old English stock; middle class urban professionals
The Two-Party System—Whigs
The “Log Cabin & Hard Cider” Campaign of 1840
• Whigs—William Henry Harrison & John Tyler
• Democrats—Martin Van Buren
• Popular vote evenly divided
• Electoral vote for Harrison
• Inaugurates the end of the Jacksonian era
The Accession of “Tyler Too”
Whigs win 1840 election (William Henry Harrison)
Henry Clay & Daniel Webster seize the opportunity to set forth the Whig agenda
Harrison rebukes them, dies in office
Tyler ascends to the presidency
President John Tyler (#10)
• Virginia gentleman & Senator
• Former Democrat dressed up in Whigs clothing
• Lacks support of his party
Can you name all the presidents??
A President Without a Party
Whigs outline nationalist agenda
Financial reform Congress passes law to end
independent treasury Tyler signs the law Congress proposes a new
national bank law Tyler vetoes on practical &
constitutional grounds Congress counteracts with a
“Fiscal Corporation” Tyler vetoes
Whig Backlash Against Tyler’s Vetoes of the Bank
• Whigs referred to Tyler as “His Accidency & His “Executive Ass”
• National influenza named “Tyler grippe”
• Whig congressional caucus expelled Tyler from the party
• Impeachment attempt
• Cabinet resigned except for Daniel Webster
Tyler & the Tariff
Tariff would increase Federal Treasury
Tariff bill included a provision to allocate federal funds to the states from federal land sales
Tyler vetoes States’ rights advocate
Federal Treasury funds scarce
Whigs Redraft Tariff Bill
• New Tariff Bill proposed – Chopped out
offensive dollar-distribution scheme to the states & pushed down rates to about the level of 1832, roughly at 32% of dutiable goods
– Tyler signs the bill; Treasury needs funds
Anglo-American Relations
Background to Anglo-American tensions Two Anglo-American wars
fuel animosity Federalist supporters of
Britain died out; left pro-French Democrats to attack British
British travelers jeered at and penned books about unrefined Americans; British magazines further attacks and stereotypes of “yokel” Americans
Anglo-American Issues
1. Debts
2. Caroline Incident
3. Creole Incident
4. “Aroostook War”
5. Oregon Territory
Debts
Britain, as a great creditor nation, loaned the US, a debtor nation, money for its industrialization
The Panic of 1837 causes debtor states & individuals to default on loans
Caroline Incident, 1837
Caroline—US steamer used to bring supplies to British insurgents on Niagara River attacked and burned by British force; 1 American dies
Americans view the action as unlawful invasion of its territory
Washington, D.C. protests
Canadian McLeod revives incident when NY arrests him for his role in the incident; acquitted; averts war with Britain
Creole Incident, 1841
• British officials in the Bahamas offered asylum to 130 Virginia slave who had rebelled & captured the American ship Creole
“Aroostook War” (1842)
Background Ill-defined boundary dispute
between Maine and Canadian province of New Brunswick
Canada still under British rule
Conflict between rival groups of lumbermen on the border erupt
Britain wishes to build a road from the seaport of Halifax to Quebec which runs through disputed lands
1839 satirical drawing on the escalation of tensions during the “Bloodless” Aroostook War. President Van Buren sits astride an ox with Maine Governor Fairfield's head, wielding a sword and a shield emblazoned with a cabbage. The ox confronts a dog with the head of the Duke of Wellington, ridden by England's Queen Victoria, also armed with sword and shield
Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842
Territory split evenly between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada
Also settles Minnesota Territory boundary US gains iron-rich Mesabi
range
Caroline Incident resolved through an exchange of diplomatic notes
The Election of 1844
Northern wing of Democratic Party nominate Martin Van Buren
Southern wing of Democratic Party nominate John C. Calhoun
Convention deadlock leads to the nomination of dark horse James K. Polk
James K. Polk #11—Young Hickory
Tennessee slaveholder
Speaker of House & Tennessee Governor
Avid expansionist Favors annexation of Texas,
the acquisition of California & occupation of the entire Oregon Territory
“54’40” or Fight!” Refers to the line of latitude
that marked the border between the Oregon Territory and Russian Alaska
Henry Clay
Whig candidate Texas issue hurts his
campaign Initially opposed to
annexation; later retracts Results in the abandonment
of Northern abolitionists (NY) from the Whig Party – Liberty Party—James
Birney—bring slavery to an end through political & legal means
» Response to Garrison’s radicalism
Election of 1844 Outcome
• Polk--Democrats – 170 electoral votes
– 1,338,464 popular votes
• Clay--Whigs – 105 electoral votes
– 1,300,097 popular votes
• Birney—Liberty – 0 electoral votes
– 16,000 NY popular votes
• Liberty Party ironically throws election to Polk
The Annexation of Texas
• Election of 1844 seen as Democratic mandate for the annexation of Texas
– Tyler persuades Congress to pass a joint resolution for annexation • Only requires a simple
majority in both houses
Polk’s Domestic Agenda
1. Tariffs
2. Independent Treasury
3. California
4. Oregon
Tariff of 1846
Goal—To lower the tariff Secretary of Treasury Robert
J. Walker devises a reduced rates from 32% to 25%
Outcome—Congressional approval Boom times and heavy
imports fuel excellent revenue despite lowering of the tariff and New England and Mid-Atlantic protests against the tariff reduction
Independent Treasury
• Goal—To create a more stable and sound decentralized banking system
• Outcome—Congressional approval
California
Goal: To purchase California & New Mexico territories to complete America’s manifest destiny
Polk sends American envoy John Slidell to Mexico to offer payment for California
Outcome: Mexico rebukes the $25 million offer & protests recent Texas annexation
Immediate Cause of the Mexican War (1846-48)
Jan.1846--Polk orders General Zachary Taylor to move his army toward the Rio Grande across territory claimed by Mexico
April 24, 1846—a Mexican army crossed the Rio Grande and captured an American army patrol, killing 11
Polk uses the incident to send his pre-prepared war message to Congress
The Spot Resolution
• Northern Whigs opposed going to war over the incident and doubt that American blood had been shed on American soil
• A large majority in both houses approve the war resolution despite the N. Whigs
Wilmot Proviso
Polk requests $2 million appropriation for the war effort
Representative David Wilmot of PA, fearful of a “slavocracy,” introduced a fateful amendment It stipulates that slavery
should never exist in any of the territory won from Mexico Passes House; Fails Senate SLAVERY ISSUE!!!!!!
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
1. Mexico would recognize the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas
2. The US would take possession of the former Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico—the Mexican Cession.
3. The US would pay $15 million for the Mexican Cession
4. America would assume the claims of American citizens against Mexico
• The acquisition of vast western lands did renew the sectional debate over the extension of slavery.
• Many northerners viewed the war with Mexico as part of a southern plot to extend the “slave power.”
• Some historians see the Wilmot Proviso as the first round in an escalating political conflict that ultimately led to the civil war.
Prelude to civil war?
Oregon Territory
• Background
– Spain, Russia, Britain, US lay claim
• Spain ceded its rights in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819
• Russia retreated to the 54’40” line in the Treaty of 1824 & 1825
– Britain claims strong
• Prior discovery, exploration, & occupation
• Hudson Bay Company
– American claims strong
• Captain Robert Gray (1792) & Lewis & Clark (1804-06)
• Missionaries & settlers
Treaty of 1846
US & Britain agree to divide territory at 49th parallel US does not want to
fight a two-front war against Britain & Mexico
Northerners see the treaty as a sellout to the South since potential free lands are lost
Top Related